Veteran state Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, said Haines residents shouldn’t kid themselves: Redistricting and declining state appropriations likely mean the municipality will have to tighten its belt for years to come.
Stedman harkened back to the days when he served alongside former House Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, on the legislature’s finance committees during times of budget surpluses.
“These are not the times when Stedman and Thomas were co-chairs in the House and Senate finance committees,” Stedman said. “If folks are expecting what happened three or four years to continue, they’re delusional.”
Stedman, who represents Haines in Senate District Q, recently wrapped up his 11th session in the Alaska Legislature.
Haines received about $21 million from the legislature this year, though $20 million is for modifications to the state’s ferry dock for the new Alaska Class ferries.
The state’s fiscal year 2015 budget also includes $1.2 million for the installation of wood pellet boilers in borough facilities, $60,000 for high school roof work, $30,000 for the Senior Center weatherization, and $29,000 for renovation and energy efficiency improvements to Klukwan’s Tribal House.
Stedman said reductions in municipal revenue sharing and pressure from other legislators to cut revenue sharing further in future years means less money for Haines and other communities, a budget-cutting strategy Stedman doesn’t agree with.
“There is no reason for the state to start reducing revenue sharing until they deal with some of the revenue side problems they created themselves,” Stedman said, speaking of the recent passage of SB21, which gives tax breaks to oil companies.
Stedman supports SB21’s repeal.
Aside from a decreasing pot of money to distribute, competition for that money is going to sharpen. Due to last year’s decision by the Alaska Redistricting Board, Haines will be in a House district with downtown Juneau, Douglas Island, Skagway, Klukwan and Gustavus.
“Haines being with downtown Juneau is going to be challenging, I think, for Haines just to compete for funding,” Stedman said. “Look at the population spread. There are 35,000 people in Juneau.”
Despite a lack of funding for municipal projects – many of the borough’s legislative priorities, including requests for money for sewer plant repairs, were denied – Stedman said he supported funding of the Juneau Access Project.
The legislature allocated $40 million to the Juneau Road project for fiscal year 2015.
Stedman said he supported the road, particularly its extension to the Kensington Mine. Once it reaches the mine, a discussion should ensue over how to proceed from there.
Asked why he supports the road, Stedman said, “We need better access in Southeast… for the people to get in and out of here.”
Declining legislative support for the Alaska Marine Highway System due to the increased clout of Railbelt legislators also necessitates the road, Stedman said.
“The political reality is it is getting more and more difficult to get the revenue to run the marine highway system, and as long as the population is growing more in the Railbelt, not Southeast, it is going to get worse not better,” he said.
“We need to have our population grow,” Stedman added.
When asked how population growth can be achieved, Stedman pointed back to the Juneau Access Project. “You build the road. You create jobs. You get some mines open. You’re either going to move Southeast forward with the rest of the state or it’s going to get left behind,” he said.
Stedman succeeded in passing several pieces of legislation this past session, including SB159, which allowed Airlift Northwest to continue offering the AirCare membership program for medevac service.
Stedman’s SB201 also passed both the House and Senate and is waiting to be signed by the governor. It removed what Stedman referred to as “excessive requirements” for posting numerous “No Trespassing” signs to protect access to private property.
Stedman also introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution 2, which supports the state acquiring land in the Tongass National Forest from the federal government. The resolution passed the legislature April 18.